Public Displays Of Rejection
by Mister Icarus
Summary: Basically a different take on what could have happened at the infamous Hall Of Accords scene. The title kinda ruined the summary for me. *sad face* Anyhoo, R&R, you know you want to! AxM
1. Chapter 1

All righty guys and gals. This is just a take on what might have happened at the Hall of Accords post the infamous Alec-and-Magnus kiss if everyone had reacted differently. Just a oneshot for now, but I'll keep going if the people tell me too. (:

**Disclaimer: I own nothing. How could I ever be cool enough to be Cassandra Clare? **

All I could hear afterwards was silence.

The eye of the storm, a voice in my head said. The worst is yet to come, just keep waiting.

Magnus was looking at me out of the corners of his green-gold eyes, his head slightly leaning away from mine. His expression was difficult to pinpoint, but I could tell he wasn't happy.

And neither was anyone else in a five mile radius, I realised as I turned to look around the hall. Everyone, just watching, staring, _whispering. _I wanted to scream at them.

"What? Haven't you ever seen two people _kiss_ before?"

But I didn't. I knew fully well Magnus and I did not qualify as _just_ two people. We were way outside the norm. Different. _Freaks._

The glare of my mother's cold blue eyes confirmed it for me.

My mother. It sent a shock of pain through my system, seeing her look at me like that. My father, however, was not looking at me, oh no. Magnus was the victim of my father's infuriated stares. His hands were shaking, I could see them even from this distance.

Panicking now, and waves of guilt and regret crushing down on me, I scanned the room, desperately seeking some kind of acceptance. My eyes landed on Izzy, whose gaze was flicking from Magnus and I, to mother and father, and back again. She caught my eye, and I saw a flash of pity through the _Alec-what-in-God's-name-have-you-done_ expression that was clouding them.

Pity? I briefly wondered why she was pitying me, then almost laughed out loud. Of course. Pity. I would be needing quite a lot of it form now on.

Then two people spoke almost simultaneously.

"_Alec_…"

"Alec!"

It was my mother and Magnus. My mother's tone was sharp and commanding, Magnus' was low and gentle. I looked at him again. His eyes had softened and I relaxed – thank God he wasn't angry with me. I didn't think I could take that.

"Alexander!" Maryse's voice rang out again, and she stormed towards me with all the force of an army. People backed away and flinched as she passed, and I can't say I blamed them. I would take on all the demons in existence over my mother in a raging fury like this any day. She was about a metre away when I felt Magnus take a step back. I glanced behind me at him, but his expression had changed to haughty and somewhat indifferent to Maryse's wrath. He glowered down imposingly at her from his lefty heights.

"Alexander," Her voice cut through the silence like a gunshot, "what do you think you're playing at?"

I tried not to gulp too audibly.

"Playing? Mother, I just-"

She exhaled furiously, cutting me off. "Just _what_, Alexander?"

This time it was Magnus who spoke. "Take a guess, Maryse." His tone was cool with a mocking edge to it.

Maryse barked out a bitter laugh. "A guess? No thank you, I think we've all had enough fun and games for today."

Magnus drew himself up to full height, his eyes flashing. "Are you trying to tell me, Lightwood, that after that display, you are _still_ trying to ignore what is right in front of your own eyes? Trying to pretend Alec is someone he's not?"

She almost snarled back at him, and her made my knees go weak and my eyes blurry. "This is _not_ my son, and _never_ will be."

So, hands up who hates Maryse in this fic? Yeah, that's what I thought. I don't know if it's good enough to keep going or what, but all reviews ad constructive criticism is very welcome (: Thanks for reading!

Soph ox.


	2. Chapter 2

So, here's chapter deux for all those awesome people who requested it, even if there were only, like, 3…sorry its so short but I've been really busy lately and hopefully more to come soon as soon as I can find the time. =]

Disclaimer; I don't own, blah blah blah.

(Magnus' POV)

All I could hear was silence.

Then Alec, my sweet innocent Alec, let out a sort of strangled breath and turned away. His mother watched him go with steely eyes. Didn't try to stop him, didn't try to say anything to him – just watched her only remaining son walk away from her.

My eyes followed Alec until he reached the doors of the Hall, where his hand seemed to pause over the door handle for a moment – then his knuckles clenched and he ripped the door open with all the force he could muster and he half ran out of the Hall.

It as overwhelming, I thought, how quiet a crowd packed with people could be. No one was whispering, muttering, talking anymore. Everyone was just plain stunned. The eyes of the crowd slowly drifted from the door Alec had stormed out of, back to Maryse and I, who were still standing a couple of feet apart from each other. The older woman scowled at me, one that reminded me of Alec's habitual scowl with a jolt in the pit of my stomach. I snapped out of my train of thought and addressed Maryse with all the venom I could muster into my voice.

"Well, well, I hope you're _very_ happy with yourself, Lightwood." She blinked at me, and then her expression became livid.

"What are you implying, Downworlder? That this is somehow _my_ fault?" Maryse exhaled furiously, "I never did anything wrong when raising my children."

I laughed with black humour. "Maybe that comment would have been valid about five minutes ago, Lightwood, before you disowned your only son in front of the entire Clave, and then some. Tell me, did that strike you as the _right_ thing to do?"

"Not right thing." It was not Maryse who spoke. I wheeled around and saw Robert Lightwood standing behind me, looking both resigned and angry at the same time.

"Not the right thing," He said again, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger, "But the _only_ thing. What else could we possibly do, Bane?"

"What else could you do? What else could you _do?_" I was suddenly fuming, "Maybe you could have not rejected him at the time families most need each other! You've already lost Max; why are you doing the same to Alec?"

Maryse and Robert said nothing for a few minutes. Then Robert finally cut through the quiet.

"I think maybe everyone should just get on with preparing for the battle. Maryse and I-" He gestured at himself and his wife with a tired wave of his hand – "will discus this, ah, event with Alexander later."

With that said, he turned on his heel and walked away. I threw Maryse one last disgusted look and imitated Robert's movement, wheeling around and stalking out the door on the opposite side of the Hall.

**A/N – Again, sorry about the short chapters, but I've been really busy lately, going back to school and whatnot. A****lso, I know there's not much of a plot so far, but that should start off in the next chapter (: so bear with me please!** **Again, thanks for reading, and thanks even more if you're one of the wonderful people who reviewed! You own me!**

**Soph ox**


	3. Chapter 3

_**Presenting chapter 3. Read it and weep. Or review. Whatever.**_

_**Disclaimer: Alec and Magnus are awesome? Check. Cassandra Clare owns everything? Check. I'm a sad loser? Double check. **_

I stormed down the street, scanning the alleyways as I passed for any sign on Alec. I cursed him under my breath as I strode through dark mazes of walls and street corners, my eyes searching for a head of dark hair, a ragged black sweater, a flash of blue eyes.

"Dammit, Alec," I growled as yet another secluded alleyway proved empty.

Where the hell could he be?

I'd checked everywhere; even called his name outside his house, which as a pretty stupid idea considering what just happened, but to no avail. I snarled in frustration and kicked a nearby garbage can in my fury.

Suddenly I had a brainwave. Recalling the spell I had used to track Sebastian for Clary, I turned around and backtracked to Alec's house. I was about to burst in the door when I realised that an unexpected might not be the best of ideas. However, I really did need to go into the house – I needed a definite possession of Alec's to track him with. Then I remembered - the adult Lightwoods would still be at the Hall, but what about Isabelle? Was there a chance she had returned home after all the upset in the Hall earlier?

I knocked gently on the door. "Isabelle?" I called softly. No answer.

"Izzy? Isabe-" The door whipped open and a pale hand pulled me inside.

I stumbled in the doorway, my un-styled hair falling into my eyes. I swept it out of the way and did a double take on sight of the person standing there.

"_Clary?_" I hissed in disbelief. She put a finger to her mouth, gesturing me to be quiet, and motioned for me to follow her. I nodded in understanding and walked behind her, up to where I assumed the bedrooms of the Lightwood's were.

The stairs creaked noisily with age as I climbed them and I grimaced at the noise. Clary padded swiftly ahead of me, and pointed at a door at the end of the corridor. Glancing at Clary curiously as I passed her, I pushed the door open slowly, trying to be as quiet as possible.

Inside, I looked around in uncertainty for a moment – what was so special about this room? It was simple, untidy, and very dark. Like Alec, I realised with a start. It must have been his room. Looking around again, my brow furrowed in confusion – was this an invitation for me to take something I needed, something to track Alec with?

I turned back to ask Clary for some sort of clue what to do, and she stared pointedly at the left hand side of the room. I followed her gaze to a desk, a chair, a mirror-

No, not a mirror. A Portal.

I almost laughed out loud, stunned that I had missed it. I tip toed over, and traced a finger along its to make sure it was real. Yes, I could tell. The energy surged from it with a force that not quite burnt my fingertips.

I whipped round and pointed a finger at the portal; _Alec? _I mouthed, and Clary nodded. I turned back around slowly. Had Clary created this Portal? If so, where had Alec used it to go? I scowled in confusion, and turned around yet again to ask Clary where had he gone, only to find the doorway empty.

"Oh, for God's sake," I muttered, "What is it with these Shadowhunters and vanishing mysteriously…"

I paced the room for a moment, only pausing for a moment to open a window to get some fresh air, clear my head. As I walked back and forth across the small space, my thoughts were in uproar.

Where was Alec? Why hadn't Clary helped me? Was I supposed to go through the Portal myself? But where would I go?

I sighed heavily and leant against the desk for a moment. My fingers curled around the edges for support – I was very tired. The desk shook as I attempted to put all my weight on it, so I sank onto the chair in front of it instead. I was in the middle of contemplating ignoring the last fifteen minutes I'd spent in Clary's company, and going ahead with the tracking spell when my eyes fell on a small white object sitting in front of me on the desk; a note.

I picked it up, and was about to open it when it struck me that this was Alec's room, and Alec's things and I probably shouldn't go rooting things that weren't mine unless I had a very good reason. However, I did have a very good reason - I needed to find Alec after all the commotion in the Hall today. I bit my lower lip and struggled between the two ideas for a moment. Finally I came to the conclusion that either way, I'd still be taking something of his in either for the tracking spell or just reading a piece of paper - that might mean nothing at all, I reminded myself - so what difference did it make?

I came to my decision and opened the note – there was only one word.

_Brooklyn._

With that, I threw the paper down on the table, shut my eyes and hurled myself in the Portal.

A/N – Again, a shortie. But I'm still toying with different ideas as to what will happen next, and I know I say this after every chapter, but the next one really will be longer! Scout's honour!


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